Since 2006, Family Lifeworks has been working towards building a better
society through education. Our non-profit organization offers education and
formation programs, conferences and courses to help families discover the
key elements in building a strong family life, essential to surviving in today’s
counter-family culture.
Our aim is to provide every member of the family and families in all
stages of life with valuable devices that will enable them to become
better persons, in the vocation each is called to develop. The only
way of achieving this goal is by having strong characters and wills
sustained by a solid formation.
We offer four programs that support schools and parents in the education and formation of students and their families.

WE OFFER...

BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES
This program provides tools and practical advice for
families with small children in forming independent
and future virtuous adults in a loving and respectful
atmosphere.
THE HEART OF IT!
A Character Formation course for adolescents, that gives
them the necessary tools to become adults with personal
integrity, capable of living with permanent values and a
full understanding of what it means to be a human person.
The companion parent discussion groups address topics
that are relevant in their teenagers lives, with the goal of
helping them develop their child’s character and will.
BALANCED HOMES, BALANCED LIVES
In a world where work inside the home is seen as of
little or no value, we strive to help make family life
more professional, practical, organized and fulfilling;
based on the development of human virtues.

Positive outcomes
In Family Lifeworks we realize the importance
of having a strong network of support between
families and the school. Our programs encourage:
 Fulfillment of the school’s educational mission.
 Development of school-family unity
 Development of personal character formation in students
 Improved family communication
 Practical ways to develop virtue in the family and in the work place.

THE ANATOMY OF VIRTUE
Through a series of conferences our aim is to help in
understanding the structure of the human person and
the way virtue is built into our characters, and to give
a practical perspective on how necessary it is to live
virtuously in our everyday activities.

Building Strong Families
Our mission is to help families discover the importance of
ppersonal growth and long-lasting family values in an
atmosphere of love and understanding, sacrifice and sharing; by
learning those values that will lead them to happy and successful
lives and being able to put them into practice.
Family Lifeworks strives to provide the tools necessary to achieve
this goal.
Our Family Education Program exposes families to time-tested
tools that have helped other families around the world for years.
In fact, some of these tools have been used in professional work
environments to help people and businesses from all walks of life
to deal with critical issues of character, integrity, and personal
growth.

Families have the opportunity for continued education and
support through resources designed to answer common
questions.
Course choices help families guide their decisions and to succeed
in the Work of Life that will benefit their own generation and
those to come.

210-386-6943
www.familylifeworks.net
familylifeworks@gmail.com

BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES

MAIN TOPIC

1

OBJECTIVES
*To understand the concept of "guiding instincts" or
innate knowledge.
* To develop a better understanding of the "sensitive
periods" .
* Make a plan to use the sensitive periods effectively.

SENSITIVE PERIODS

2

HUMAN MOTIVATIONS

3

DETACHMENT

4

5

6

* To undertand what motivates the human person to
act in certain ways.
* To make better use of rewards and punishment.
* To foster motivation for higher values.
* To foster detachment in order to counteract
selfishness.
*To discover that a person is valuable not because of
what he gives but because of the attitude he has in
giving
* To help our children work honestly for the truth
* To understand that it's not "not saying lies"
* Realizing it involves every aspect aspect of our lives;
interior and exterior

TRUTH

* To gain authority before our children
* To understand the concept of "service-authority"
that means that just by serving we gain authority.

AUTHORITY

* To teach them that everthing has a beginning and an
end.
* To teach them that every work has to be finished to
the best of our abilities.

WORK WELL DONE

VIRTUE

ORDER

RESPONSIBILITY

GENEROSITY

HONESTY

OBEDIENCE

DILIGENCE

* To understand that every person has dignity no

7

8

matter what.
* To learn how to give and recieve respect.
*To teach them to respect authority (adults,
teachers, public servants, priests)

DIGNITY

DIGNITY AND SEXUALITY

* To help them understand the concept of integrity in
the human person.
* To explain that dignity belongs to the whole person
and sexuality is not just about the physical dimension

RESPECT

MODESTY

* To explain the importance of learning piety as a child.

9

10

LOVE FOR GOD

* To help them realize that just by having a relationship
with God we will be happy.

PIETY

SOCIABILITY

*To understand the importance of being created to live
in society.
* To learn how to educate our children in positive
leadership for the future.
* To understand that a leadear person should be a kind
person.

KINDNESS

Strong Families for the Work of Life

BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES

11
12

MAIN TOPIC

OBJECTIVES

COMMUNICATION

* Realize the importance of giving children quality time.
* To foster trust and understanding in the family
* To understand the importance of listening

PEACE

13

CONCIENCE FORMATION

14

VALUE OF SACRIFICE

15

UNITY OF LIFE

16

UNDERSTANDING

* The importance of a fostering peaceful surroundings.
* Educating by our example
*Realizing that patient people usually make good
decisions.
* To give our children a solid formation that will make
them virtuous persons.
* Undedrstanding that good formation will help them
look for the truth and the good in every aspect of their
lives.
* To enable our children to live a genuinely Christian
life.
* To teach them self-control in order to resist outside
influences.
* Being true to oneself and to others, especially with
God in every circumstance.
* To realize the importance of having our words,
thougths and actions work in harmony with our values.
* To realize the importance of undertanding instead of
just being understood.
* To undersatnd that life is not about being resentful or
vengeful.
* Understanding people foster good friendships.

Strong Familes for the Work of Life

VIRTUE
FRIENDSHIP

PATIENCE

LOYALTY

MODERATION

CONSISTENCY

FORGIVENESS

Our vision is a generation of
young adults with strong
characters and permanent
values, capable of taking the
right decisions based on truth
and supported by strong wills.

The Heart of It
The Heart of It is a Character Formation course for adolescents,
to give them the necessary tools that will help them become
adults with personal integrity, capable of living with permanent
values and a full understanding of what it means to be a human
person.
There are many challenges to be faced by teenager and young
adults in the world today: The influence of media, peer
pressure, an openly sexual culture, moral relativism, lack of
strong permanent valuesâ&#x20AC;Ś and they need to be taught how to
look for the truth, how to take decisions that will lead them to
live full lives.
Through practical interaction and active participation in class
our program is designed to help teenagers find the truth by
giving them information about the subjects they will be faced
with, so that they will become convinced for themselves about
the need to have strong values.

The Heart of It !
Adolescents are searching for their identity with
questions like: who am I?, why am I here?, who do I want
to be? In this session we discuss the 5 dimensions of the
human being: Physical, emotional, social, rational and
spiritual.

Objectives / Virtue
* What happens in one dimension
affects the rest.
* How to reach maturity in the five
dimensions
RESPONSIBILITY

Emotions, feelings, and passions and motivations are the * Understanding that feelings are not
ways we react to the world around us. They are
good or bad, it's the way I react that
important and necessary for our development. In this
makes them either positive or negative.
module we learn to recognize them and how to manage
them.
PATIENCE

Adolescence is a time of growth in all dimensions and
there are things that help this process or hinder it. We
give the students a map they can follow to make this
Growing up with Self-esteem journey fruitful.

* What is self esteem?
*Concept of healthy self-esteem
*How to achieve a healthy self-esteem

SINCERITY

4

My Sexuality, My Self

It is of the utmost importance to understand the
difference between sex and sexuality and what it means
for the way we live our lives.

* Understand the concept of unity in
the human person.
* Learn how sexuality is expressed
without the need for sex.

Relationships require valuing and respecting the person
by recognizing the dignity of every human being, and
understanding the rights and duties we must exercise,
starting with the respect we owe ourselves.

* Learn the true value of the dignity of
the human person, starting with
yourself.
*Practical ways to show respect

PURITY

5

Respect: For Myself and
Others

RESPECT

6

Family ABC's

The family is the cornerstone of society. In many ways
the strength of society depends on the family's well
being. This module explores family growth.

* Appreciate family for what it is.
* Learn new ways to deal with every
day problems

YOU, THEM AND US

OBEDIENCE

7

Friends and Peer pressure

Adolescents are constantly under pressure from various
sources: friends, media, culture, parents, school. We
help identify these pressures and develop the skills to
manage them.

* To understand the true meaning of
friendship.
* To learn how to deal with peer
pressure in a positive way.

As teenagers mature, they increasingly make their own
decisions. Effective decision making is based on reason,
knowledge, moral values, traditions, family upbringing,
and religious beliefs.

* Set short, medium and long term
goals in the five dimensions.

FRIENDSHIP

8

A Fork in the Road

SELF KNOWLEDGE

9

Keep on Talking

Once the adolescent has made a decision, he or she has
to find the best way to communicate them to others in
an assertive way. We help them develop those skills.

* Develop good communication skills in
every aspect of life.
ASSERTIVENESS

Strong Families for the Work of Life

THE HEART OF IT!

module

Session

10

Get the Message I

The Heart of It !

Objectives / Virtue

Adolescents are more sensitive to the images and
messages that advertising conveys. Here they learn to
look for the positive and negative messages and make
conscious, analytical evaluations.

* To recognize the influence different
types of media have on our way of
thinking, looking at life and decision
making.

Navigating the internet has great benefits as well as great
risks for adolescents. Access to inappropriate material is
now just a click away. Adolescents need to be aware of
the challenges.

* To recognize the influence different
types of media have on our way of
thinking, looking at life and decision
making.

INFLUENCES

DISCERNMENT

11

Get the Message II

DISCERNMENT

12

Downward Spiral

Understanding the negative aspects of drug abuse is
good but it's essential to point out the positive
consequences of self control which allows each person to
develop their talents and skills.

* To learn how addictions can start.
*Identify the differences and
consequences of experimentation,
habit, abuse, dependence and
addiction.

A 1970 investigation presented to the Commission on
Pornography of the United States, suggested that it was
harmless. We explore the real dangers of pornography
and it's effects.

* To recognize the negative effects that
pornography (starting with soft porn)
has on the viewer and the viewed.

SELF RESPECT

13

Behind Closed Doors

STRENGTH OF CHARACTER

14

Choosing Chastity

Teens are being bombarded with messages saying: "Love
justifies sex", "sexual feelings are uncontrollable", "
Everyone does it!", We debunk the messages to discuss
the possible affirmation of chastity for love.

*Identify that chastity involves all 5
human dimensions.
*Recognize that the virtue of chastity is
possible and valuable

PERSONAL COMMITMENT

CHASTITY

15

Under Pressure

Before deciding on how to express our sexuality, we
should look at what influences human sexual behavior.
We explore those things in order to help in making the
right decisions.

*Learn strategies to identify and
combat societal and peer pressures to
be sexually active.

STRENGTH OF WILL

16

Dating and Relationships

Dating has the concrete purpose of deepening our
*Reconcile respect and the realities of
knowledge of another person. Dating is a normal part of modern dating.
human existence. We look at the elements of smart
dating, the purpose of dating, and how to build lasting
love.
SELF CONTROL

17

STD's: A Silent Epidemic

Adolesdcents tend to be risk takers and they don't realize * To recognize the facts and
that STD's take many forms and are a public health
consequences of risky behavior.
challenge worldwide. Sexual behaviors and attitudes are
key in addressing the problem. Adolescents must
understand the risks and dangers.
VERACITY

Strong Families for the Work of Life

THE HEART OF IT!

Session

module

18

True Love

The Heart of It !
Most young people hope to have loving and lasting
relationships that help them become better. In today's
culture, preparation is paramount. We look at the elements
of lasting mature relationships and how to achieve them.

Objectives
* To understand the difference between true
love and some common misconceptions about
true love.
*To recognize that love and responsibility can
never be separated.

FOR LIFE

SINCERITY

19

Marriage

Marriage is part of God's plan for humanity. In order to build * Understand the fundamentals and goals of
a lasting marriage, founded on truth and love it is necessary marriageâ&#x20AC;Ś it is the most mportant decision you
to understand the right concept of marriage and everything will make, because it is forever.
it entails.
COMMITMENT

20

21

22

Being a Parent

Life Belongs to God

The Big Picture

Most adolescents want to become parents some day.
Understanding that paternity calls for maturity, generous
love, responsibility and sacrifice is critical. We are all
someone's children!

* Recognizing what parents do for their children
brings new appreciations and a vision for the
future.
SACRIFICE

Each of us is unique and valuable. Procreation entails
* Understand the true value of human life as a
understanding our role in generating a new life. Adolescents gift from God
need an honest appreciation for the connection between sex
and procreation.
UNDERSTANDING TRUTH
Whether or not we acknowledge our spiritual dimension, we
all live spiritual lives. When we live authentically, our actions
flow from our willingness to act on our beliefs and values. In
other words, action follows being.

*To understand the model of being-willingdoing
*Identify the importance of forming our beliefs
in truth, the power of faith in our values and the
role of meaning in our actions.

TRANSCENDING

PIETY

23

24

25

Spinning Compass

As human beings we are made to seek truth, we want to give * Learn to recognize truth as an objective value.
teenagers the tools to understand where truth comes from
in order to distinguish between objective truth, subjective
truth and relativism.
OBJECTIVITY

The Anatomy of Virtue

The only way to become fully human is to live a life of virtue. * Understand what cardinal virtues are and the
Understanding the stucture of the human person and the
practical ways of living them out.
way virtue is built into our character is fundamental to being
able to live virtue out in our daily lives.
CARDINAL VIRTUES

Virtue 101

To become a virtuous person one must understand the
* Define virtue and recognize the ones I have
relationship virtues have with self-control and the mastering and the ones I need to work on to become a
of oneself in regards to what feels good and what doesn't.
better person

Strong Families for the Work of Life

THE HEART OF IT !
Parent's Program

SESSION

TOPIC

DESCRIPTION
Education in the 21st century

1

PARENTING 101
What is authority?

2

WHAT ARE OUR CHILDREN GOING Identity / five dimensions
THROUGH?
Emotional control
Healthy self-esteem

3

EVERYBODY'S DOING IT!!

Friendship
Peer pressure
Communication in the Family

4

KEEP ON TALKING

Get your children to talk to you
How do teens talk to eachother?
Sex and sexuality

5

WHAT ABOUT SEX?

Chastity
Statistics
Today's Media

6

MEDIA INFLUENCE
How to filter?
How addictions get started

7

DOWNWARD SPIRAL

Signs to look for
Getting help
The Anatomy of Virtue

8

SETTING THE EXAMPLE
Cultivating virtue in the family
Strong Families for the Work of Life

The Heart of It!
Middle School

6th GRADE
1

3 YEAR PROGRAM

Understanding
my identity

2

3

Taking control:
Growing up with
Emotional
self esteem
Maturity

4
Family ABC'S
7th GRADE

recap- 6th grade

5

6

My Sexuality, my
Self

Respect: for
myself and
others

7

8

9

10

A Fork in the
Road

Choosing
Chastity

15

16

Dating and
Relationships

Life belongs to
God

5

6

7

Understanding
my sexuality

Respect: for
myself and
others

Chastity: Making
the choice

11

12

13

14

Media

Addictions

Dating and
Relationships

Life belongs to
God

5

6

7

Respect: for
myself and
others

Chastity: Making
the choice

Dating and
Relationships

Friends and Peer
Keep on Talking
pressure
8th GRADE

11

recap- 7th grade

12

13

14

Get the
Keep on Talking
The Anatomy of
Message: Effects Downward Spiral
II
Virtue
of Media

2 YEAR PROGRAM

7th GRADE
1

2

Understanding
my identity

My emotional
makeup

3

Growing up with My family: what
self esteem
I need it for
8th GRADE

8

9

10

Friends and Peer Communication:
Learning to
pressure
Keep on Talking make decisions

Balanced Homes,
Homes, Balanced
Balanced Lives
Lives
Balanced
Do any of these situations sound familiar…
 Do you feel that you run around and you never have time for
anything?
 Do you cover so many roles that you barely have time for
yourself?
 Do you look for important papers and can’t find them?
 Is what you earn enough for what you spend?
 When you open a closet or drawer you can’t find what you’re
looking for?
 You go shopping for groceries and you never know what to
buy for dinner?
 Do you know your families’ nutritional needs?
 You buy new cleaning products not knowing what they will
do for you and your house never looks really clean?
 The laundry just keeps on piling up like a never-ending
plague?
 Do you try to get your husband and kids to cooperate at
home and can’t seem to get them to do anything?
 You never have the time or energy to invite people over?
We will give you the tools you need in order to manage your homes
in the most effective way possible in order to make them luminous
and happy places to live in.

DESCRIPTION
Understanding that the same as any professional
activity, the work you do at home has to be planned.
Rediscovering the importance and value of the work of
women in the home and in society.
Having a plan and visualizing where we want to be in the
different roles we have in life is essential for getting
there. A family is a team that has to work together in
order for life to work… delegating chores and sharing
responsibilities is the best way to do it.
Where do the 24 hours of the day go? Visualizing our
days, weeks, months and year is a practical way of
organizing our minds in order to organize our every day
activities.

VIRTUE

Commitment

Patience

Diligence

Family Spending Plan

Money is an issue in every family in the world… it causes
problems, anxiety, and stress. Looking at reality and
planning beforehand helps to reduce these problems.

Sobriety

Maximize your space

Having a big house or a small house is not what makes
the difference in the order we have at home… it's what
you do with that space that is important.

Order

Nutrition

Menu planning

Fast, easy cooking

Clean up time

Of the basic necessities of life eating is the one that
takes up most of our time and energy… what we put in
our bodies makes a big difference in our health and the
way we feel.
What to cook for dinner? It is the most popular question
in every household… when we have a plan, it's not an
issue!

When you master the techniques for simple every day
cooking it makes the time spent in the kitchen much
more efficient.

There is no way of getting away from the dust and dirty
clothes. Having the necessary tools and plans to carry
out these activities in a productive way is indispensable
in every home.

Strong Families for the Work of Life

Generosity

Temperance

Service

Pulchritude

Finally, brothers, whatever is
true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if
anything is excellent or
praiseworthyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;think about
such things. (Phil:4,8)
Phuio

Anatomy of Virtue
The only way to become fully human is to live a life of virtue.
We live in a world where having values is of the utmost importanceâ&#x20AC;Ś
the problem is that we all have different values and this often causes
conflict and confusion when it comes to matters of character and
integrity.
Virtues on the other hand are objective, they mean the same thing to
all people of all times and give us a solid base on which to live our
lives in relation to everybody else.
When we live a life of virtue everybody can count on the results, and
on us. Virtues take the guesswork out of life and relationships.
Understanding the structure of the human person and the way virtue
is built into our characters is fundamental to understanding how
virtue can be lived out in our everyday activities.
Our program consists of a series of conferences that can be taught in
different environments: businesses, schools, families, conferences,
corporate training, or retreats.
Our objective is to help individuals visualize how living virtuously can
make you a better person, a committed parent, and a more
integrated human being, able to give a good example in whatever
environment you develop in.

DESCRIPTION
Understanding the structure of the human
person and the way virtue is built into our
characters is fundamental to understanding
how virtue can be lived out in our everyday
activities.

OBJECTIVES
To have clear concepts of humanity,
dignity, intelligence, truth, will, the
good, virtue and vice.

Explaining the relationship virtue has with
To understand what cardinal virtues
self-control and the mastering of oneself in are and the practical ways of living
Temperance and Fortitude regards to what feels good and what doesn't. them out.

Justice and Prudence

Charity: The Queen of
Virtues

In this module one discovers that each one To realize that everything we do
of us is indeed a "debtor" and that the things affects or relationships with God and
we owe others are neatly summarized in the with others.
"guidelines of Justice" , commonly known as
the "Ten Commandments".

Life has no meaning without love. There is an To learn to distinguish the different
ontological explanation for this… the human types of love and how we are called
person is made in the image of God, and
to fulfill ourselves in loving others.
GOD is LOVE. This love has different
dimensions depending on who it is directed
to.

Humility calls us to recognize that there are
certain fundamental truths which don't
Humility: The foundation depend on us, but directly on God… and as
created beings we must submit to them.
of the Virtuous Life

Diligence

Teaching virtue to our
children

To understand the difference
between the recognition of our
talents as gifts, and "false humility"

As human beings one of our callings is to
"give back" to God of the talents we received
from Him… what we do with them by
developing the virtues of order, optimism,
industriousness and teamwork is the way to
do it.

Recognizing that as corporal beings
we live in a certain space and time
that we must make the most of them
in order to obtain good results.

Children learn mainly from example but
there are certain ages in which virtues are
more easily incorporated into life. As parents
it is necessary to learn how to take
advantage of these times in order to instill a
virtuous way of life.

To learn to recognize the stages our
children are in and to make a
practical plan for living virtues in
family life.

It is fundamental to realize that in teaching To understand that our attitude says
virtues it is not enough to know things but to much more about us than our words
put them into practice. Virtues are not
do.
Where have all the adults
considered "cool" by society so it is of
gone
utmost importance that as adults we step up
and give a good example.

Strong Families for the Work of Life

Strong Families for the Work of Life

Our name proclaims loudly and clearly that the
family as a whole needs to WORK towards being a
positive influence in society in order to bring about
the changes it so desperately needs. Our goal is to
empower families by providing a network of people
with the same values as they have, in order to
make a stronger society.
A solid family must be wrought, with great effort
on all parts, from the raw materials of people and
culture...
For more information contact us at:
215 Switch Oak
San Antonio, TX, 78230
(210) 479-7152 / (210) 386-6943
familylifeworks@gmail.com
Or visit us at:
www.familylifeworks.net